


John & Equius Admire Their Creation

by Classpectanon



Series: Three Hundred And Sixty Five Ficlets About Homestuck [64]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - No Sburb/Sgrub Sessions, Gen, Nonbinary Character, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-05
Updated: 2021-03-05
Packaged: 2021-03-19 04:21:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 783
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29869062
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Classpectanon/pseuds/Classpectanon
Summary: There was something soothing about watching the fruits of one's labor amble about, childishly, tripping over small obstacles and ambulating in all the ways that a living being notably did not ambulate. Still, every little mechanism worked the way they were intended to, with a little push-kick thingamabob to get the boy to hop over very slight gaps, inclines, things that could prevent it from moving. Robust tires ganked from some LEGO model that helped it move over most forms of surface that it was intended to move over. More LEGO armor hiding delicate circuitry. The "Untitled Robotics Class Project MK 2" was ready for action, readily beeping as it bumped into every little thing in John's living room. That one was John's suggestion, a little sensor that would make a chime whenever it bumped into something.64/365
Relationships: John Egbert & Equius Zahhak
Series: Three Hundred And Sixty Five Ficlets About Homestuck [64]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2085684
Comments: 3
Kudos: 9





	John & Equius Admire Their Creation

There was something soothing about watching the fruits of one's labor amble about, childishly, tripping over small obstacles and ambulating in all the ways that a living being notably did not ambulate. Still, every little mechanism worked the way they were intended to, with a little push-kick thingamabob to get the boy to hop over very slight gaps, inclines, things that could prevent it from moving. Robust tires ganked from some LEGO model that helped it move over most forms of surface that it was intended to move over. More LEGO armor hiding delicate circuitry. The "Untitled Robotics Class Project MK 2" was ready for action, readily beeping as it bumped into every little thing in John's living room. That one was John's suggestion, a little sensor that would make a chime whenever it bumped into something.

Equius and John were not really friends in the sense that they hung out together frequently, lived particularly close to each other (close enough to drive, sure, but not to walk), or shared many common interests. In fact, John wasn't really in Equius's classes, but John was in comp sci class, and Equius's robotics teacher had decided that there should be some inter-expertise crossover in these warm spring days, where students wouldn't have to worry so much about being graded. Plus, everyone thought BattleBots was cool, even if it was robots destroying other robots made of LEGO and Knex and plastic and cardboard, rather than metal. There were no buzzsaws allowed, but the Untitled Robotics Class Project MK 2 did have a robust little hammer with a rock superglued to the end of it for bashing things with.

"How's she running?" John asked, watching from the couch as the Untitled Robotics Class Project MK 2 (rest in piece MK 1 and MK 0) swung its mighty hammer at John's toes. Equius, who was manning the remote control and was not so much a software person as he was very, very much a hardware person, lazily ambled the machine around, making it swing its little arm happily, occasionally popping it over a knot of carpet or a small object that was placed in its way with the little kick-foot thing made specifically for that purpose. The machine had a mostly symmetrical design, with wheels large enough that it could run on either side, rendering it immune to being flipped over - Equius's idea, and one that he thought would give the two of them the undeniable edge in the competition.

"She does indeed move like she has four large wheels over most types of terrain." Equius pointed out, matter-of-factly. John couldn't help but laugh - all weekend, Equius (whom they had barely interacted with before) was talking like this, and at this point, John was somewhat certain that it was, in fact, not a bit. Equius was just very sincere about speaking precisely and accurately to the expense of anything like metaphorical language. Still, there were moments when John could've sworn Equius caught them laughing and smiled back, and little moments like that, like this, made John doubt their doubt that this was a bit.

"I'm glad we can both come to an agreement on that." John replied, watching as Equius turned his gaze back towards the machine, slipping it beneath the couch, back around behind the couch, from the carpet onto the hardwood onto the carpet again, jumping onto a stuffed animal, flipping over, and righting itself with its ersatz hammer. John grinned quietly watching it go, arms folded underneath their chin while they observed, curled up into a ball on the couch while they watched.

"She is also running very smoothly, thank you for asking. You did an excellent job in programming her motor functions. I am forever in your debt." Equius followed up after a couple of moments, his tone not changing in the absolute slightest between his prior sentence and this one. Just a single, completely even tone of voice, breathlessly unchanging, the world's ultimate straight-man to any enterprising comedian. "Thank you."

"Aww, Equius, that's sweet. But I really couldn't have done any of this project without an engineer like you on my side!" John cheered, tilting their head to the left, and then to the right, pulling their foot out of the way as the Untitled Robotics Class Project MK 2 bumped into John's shoe ("Beep!"). It then swung at the space where John's foot was a second ago. "Let's win this stupid contest together. For Mark 0!"

"Aye aye, captain." Equius replied in kind, his voice taking on a slight, happier inflection as the Untitled Robotics Class Project MK 2 wildly swung its hammer back and forth, clattering against the carpet each time.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading. All views, kudos, comments, and bookmarks are appreciated.  
> [Twitter](https://twitter.com/classpectanon)


End file.
